A FAREED ZAKARIA GPS SPECIAL: RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM – FIXING EDUCATION – Airs Saturday 8:00PM – 9:00PM and 11:00PM, Sunday 2:00AMAmerican primary and secondary education were once envied by much of the world, but over the last few decades U.S. students have fallen behind – while students in other countries have benefitted from improvements to their educational systems. CNN and TIME magazine’s Fareed Zakaria interviews innovative and creative leaders working on solutions to fix what ails American education. Zakaria guides viewers through tours of what is working in education in countries with high rankings – to South Korea where students have more classroom time; and Finland, where professionalization of the teacher workforce has improved educators – in order to mine ideas for what could put U.S. education back on the right track. Featured in the special are: Microsoft founder and education philanthropist Bill Gates, founder of the online Khan Academy Salman Khan, NYU Professor, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, and author (The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, 2010) Diane Ravitch, and Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, who now leads StudentsFirst.

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS – Airs Sunday 10:00AM – 11:00AM and 1:00PM – 2:00PM Topics: Election 2012: does the former Senator think the GOP race is Mitt Romney’s to lose? Is Simpson ready to endorse Romney? Has the Tea Party played much of a role in election 2012? What about the GOP candidates pledge to not raise taxes? Can the math work?Guest: Alan Simpson, former U.S. Senator (R-WY)Topic: Evolving the Pentagon: Is Secretary Panetta’s strategy to downsize the armed forces one whose time has come – or is it too much, too fast?Guest: Michael O’Hanlon, PhD, director of research and senior fellow, foreign policy, 21st Century Defense Initiative, The Brookings InstitutionGuest: Lawrence Korb, PhD, senior fellow, Center for American Progress; senior advisor to the Center for Defense InformationTopic: The verbal war between the U.S. and Iran – will it ultimately lead to military conflict?Guest: Hillary Mann Leverett, CEO, Strategic Energy and Global Analysis (STRATEGA) and lecturer for Yale University Jackson Institute for Global AffairsGuest: Hooman Majd, writer/author The Ayatollahs’ Democracy: An Iranian Challenge (2011)Guest: Vali Nasr, PhD, U.S. State Department Foreign Affairs Policy Advisory BoardGuest: Bret Stephens, deputy editorial page editor, The Wall Street Journal (European and Asian Editions)Anchor: Fareed Zakaria